Sciahri
Pareidolia IV
Sublunar
In tastemaker circles, dub techno has been having a moment for what feels like several years now, but what about standard-issue, four-on-the-floor techno? It’s all but disappeared from the discourse—or at least the discourse that happens outside the Berghain_Community Reddit—and goes virtually unmentioned by the major electronic music publications these days. The heads, it seems, are interested in other genres right now, and even the digger types appear to be firmly focused on unearthing rare slices of tech house, prog and minimal.
“Traditional” or “classic” techno hasn’t actually gone anywhere, of course. Economically speaking, the genre is possibly bigger now than ever before, to a point where in many places, especially those that reside in the more commercial corners of the culture, techno has become nightlife’s default soundtrack. Beyond that, reverence for the genre’s founding fathers remains sky-high, even in the so-called “underground,” where there’s never been a shortage of Jeff Mills worship or dudes—and yes, it’s almost entirely dudes—eagerly willing to rock an Underground Resistance t-shirt.
That sort of nostalgic enthusiasm is (mostly) harmless, but it can at times obscure the good work being put out by contemporary artists who have yet to be christened as legends. Sciahri is one such artist, and while the Italian producer’s past contributions to labels like Ilian Tape and Black Opal might have put him on the radar of some of the aforementioned heads, his best work has come via his own Sublunar imprint. Launched in 2023 as “a project where the most groovy and immediate techno blends with the more futuristic and sophisticated one,” his Pareidolia series has already produced three stellar EPs, but Pareidolia IV is a proper album. Moreover, it’s a showcase for lean, propulsive techno that’s found the sweet spot between hardgroove and minimal—the Robert Hood kind, not the Perlon kind. Save for some scattered hints of sci-fi sonics, the LP is a relatively no-frills affair, but it’s also a testament to the hypnotic power of a good loop. More importantly, it’s a clear sign that techno not only still has a pulse, but hasn’t yet lost its creative spark.